Caliche finds a way at homecoming

Team beats rival Merino with big second half

Mitch Davison finds a big hole to score Caliche's second touchdown of the Buffs' homecoming game against Merino.
(Jonathan Sieb/Journal-Advocate)

ILIFF --The Merino Rams did their best to ruin homecoming for the Buffaloes of Caliche, but when the final horn sounded, the Buffs ended up being too much for the Rams to handle as Merino fell 25-14 to the state's ninth ranked 8-man football team.

After winning the coin toss and deferring to the second half, the Ram's Marcelino Baptista kicked off, and the ball was returned to the Buffalo 45-yard line. Caliche wasted little time in establishing their running game and drove the ball 55-yards in 10 plays that ate up 7 minutes of the 1st quarter, culminating in a 5-yard touchdown run by Chase Debus. A failed 2-point conversion made the score 6-0 in favor of the Buffaloes.

Merino rose to the occasion and met that Caliche score with one of their own on their first drive of the game. After beginning at their 32-yard line, the Ram's Josh Baker rushed twice for 4 yards. Then junior Aris Shino busted free on an outside run and outraced all the Buffalo defenders for a 64-yard touchdown run. A Baptista extra-point gave Merino its first lead of the evening, 7-6.

The shootout appeared to be on and Caliche followed suit on their second drive of the evening. Beginning the drive on their 44-yard line, Caliche used five consecutive run plays to cover 56 yards. The exclamation point of the drive was a tackle-breaking 22-yard touchdown run by Mitch Davison. The Buffaloes tried a pass on the 2-point conversion, which was knocked down by Leon Johnson.

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The damage was done, however, and Caliche jumped back on top 12-7.

Merino again did not blink when looking adversity in the eye and calmly put together a run-exclusive drive of their own. Baker began the drive with runs of 6 and 12 yards, respectively. Jorden Jole then had two nice runs of 15 and 7 yards. Shino again delivered in the clutch and took his second touchdown of the evening 17 yards behind a pancake block by Trace Elliot, again giving the Rams a lead. Baptista added another extra point, and Merino was up 14-12 at the end of the first quarter.

Despite all of the offense in the first quarter, the teams went the entire second quarter with no points being put on the board. The Buffaloes threatened late in the half and had the ball inside the Ram 5-yard line, but time elapsed before Caliche could add to their point total.

The teams also battled through a turnover-rattled third quarter and were unable to score in that frame. The Buffaloes began a scoring drive late in the third quarter, however, and carried it over to the fourth. After a holding penalty nullified a red-zone opportunity for Caliche, Bret Quint hauled in a beautiful diving touchdown pass over Baker's outstretched arms, tossed by Davison, extending Caliche's lead to 18-14. The 2-point conversion was again no good.

Just as in the previous Merino drives from the second quarter on, the Rams could not muster any kind of a running game, and their three fourth quarter possessions resulted in a lost fumble, a turnover on fourth down and a pass interception.

Caliche added another Davison touchdown run and extra point to cap the night's scoring and give the Buffs a 25-14 homecoming win.

Davison finished with 17 carries for 75 yards; he also was 5-for-9 for 117 yards through the air. Ausitn Zink carried the ball nine times for 39 yards, Austin Yahn had seven carries for 52, Quint had one for 7 and Debus carried the ball 12 times for 40 yards.

Stieb caught one pass for Caliche for 10 yards, Quint reeled in one for 40 and Dakota Kingsly had three for 67 yards.

On the Buffs side for defense, Quint had an interception, Jordan Troeseter (homecoming king) and Jerrod Thompson each had a fumble recovery and Jayden Stieb had the only sack. Zink led the team with16 tackles. Yahn had nine.

Next up for the Rams (2-5, 1-3) is another league match-up on Friday evening in Akron against the third-ranked Rams (6-1, 3-1), whose lone defeat of the season came at the hands of top-ranked Dayspring Christian 33-30 in the final seconds of their game on Sept. 21st in Akron.

Caliche (6-1, 3-1) also plays in a Plains League contest, with a game against the No. 1 Dayspring Christian Eagles.